SeaWorld Orlando recently opened its “Antarctica — Empire of the Penguin” attraction. With a ride, restaurants and 250 live penguins, it’s the largest expansion in the park’s history.

“Through our research, we found that penguins are a very popular species,” said Terry Prather, vice president of park operations. “Initially, we thought it was just with kids. But as we developed this attraction, we found that adults like penguins just as much as kids, and we’ve seen adults act just like kids when they’re around them.”

The entrance to the area greets visitors with glacier- and icicle-themed walls, while the restaurant offers iceberg lettuce wedges and refillable cups to help cut down on plastic waste.

A ride takes visitors through a queue themed around Puck, a fictional baby penguin hatched right before a menacing blizzard. The first thing visitors notice is the pleasant air-conditioned temperature once the line snakes inside — and how the temperature keeps dropping as they continue along the journey.

Visitors are asked to choose between “mild” or “wild” rides — which determines how their cars will move. Then a circular car whisks them past videos of Puck and his family, and past brilliantly colored — psychedelic, even — decorations. The “mild” ride is appropriate for kids.

“The only way Puck can survive is through family,” Prather explained.

A video shows Puck plunging into the icy Antarctic water, then being chased by a ferocious-looking seal. He makes it to shore, with his penguin family and friends nearby.

By the time the ride passes through blasts of simulated blizzard air, all memory of Florida’s humidity is gone.

Then come the real stars of the show: the live penguins. The ride ends at the penguin habitat — and it’s easy to forget that you’re exiting the car as you gape at the chubby, fuzzy king penguin babies.

By the time you reach that point in the experience, it’s 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

“You’re experiencing what the penguins like,” said Mike Boos, the park’s vice president of zoological operations.

In addition to the large king penguins, there are also gentoos, rockhoppers and adelie penguins of various sizes.

“This is the closest thing — I mean, how many people get to go to Antarctica?” he said. “It’s at the bottom of the world, and this is the closest you’re going to get to it.”

The penguins were all hatched and raised at SeaWorld, said Boos, who typically wears a parka during the hours he spends inside the chilly attraction.